Which one of these do you consider to produce the most natural, realistic and all arounder performance, sound wise?

Or, alternatively, which one of these has greater similarities to the GR07's all around sonic performance and balance/presentation/signature?

If there is some other sub 100$ IEM you think I should consider do tell... I prefer dynamics though...

I do value flat FR with the least peaks as possible...

I do value neutrality and transparency from an uncolored sound... can be colored but just slightly...

I absolutelly hate prominent peaks in the upper mids/lower treble like I found on the GR07 out of the box...

Take your time!

Thanks!

I would go with the RE-ZERO. It's not exactly laid back in the upper mids/lower treble but it's not peaky. Not recommending Sunrise at the moment due to build quality issues.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RapidPulse

Can anyone provide me some ideas for an IEM with a similar sound signature to the MDTs...just with more neutral bass?

The RE262 maybe? the Coppers?

Thanks!

The bass of the MTP Golds is more relaxed than that of the MDT but still emphasized over flat. You may also like the Radius DDM2.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AstralStorm

Hmm. I suspect the Merlin has some bass boost - but from the charts it looks a bit high frequency kneed. I'm also afraid of the ~7k peak after what VSonic GR07 OOTB experience was. It looks substantial. Pity it will be nigh impossible to get a listen of these in Poland...

Could you compare their sibilance if any to VSonics? Detailing vs RE272?

What would those hybrid universals be?

Merlin treble curve should be similar to my Miracle. The Miracle treble looks daunting on graphs but it is not sibilant at all in reality. Graphs are only comparable when done on the same equipment with the same compensation (if any). I believe average_joe's Rooth LS8 has even peakier-looking treble on the graph (likely done on similar equipment to merlin/miracle graphs) but from his review the in-ear response is rather smooth and well-measured. Detail-wise the RE272 keeps up with my customs reasonably well in the treble and to a lesser extent the midrange. Where it falls most flat is bass response and presentation.

The vocals are more balanced with the bass and treble in the W4 while the earphone overall is a bit more laid-back. On balance I would say more forward, but not by much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Infinity03

First off, thank you very much for writing such a detailed review of so many IEM's. I am a total newbie to IEMs and as such am not really sure what would be a good choice for my first pair. I wouldn't consider myself an audiophile, but I do like getting the best sounding equipment that is within my budget. There is much talk about warm, neutral, smooth, bright sounding, etc when it comes to reviews and I honestly don't know exactly what the difference is. About 15 years ago I auditioned several speakers from various brands and finally decided on a pair of Energy Connoisseur C-2's that I still have (and love) to this day. I seem to remember reading or being told that these are neutral speakers, but I don't know for certain. Also for the past 10 years or so I have used a pair of Koss PortaPro headphones for traveling, but their open design doesn't make these very useful for places with a lot of noise (airplanes, trains, etc). Prior to the Koss Porta Pros I briefly had a pair of Sennheiser PX-200 which I exchanged for the Koss Porta Pros (and was much happier with). I mention all this in hopes it will give some of the more experience headphone gurus here a better idea of what type of "sound" I like, as I don't know. I am not sure if it matters, but as to what type of music I listen to it pretty much encompasses everything except rap and r&b. Mostly I listen to classic rock, prog rock and on occasion country and classical.

All that being said, what would be a good first IEM for myself? I'd like to keep the price under $50. My main concern is comfort (especially being new to IEM's), followed by sound quality, and then microphonics. I was thinking about either the Meelec CW31 or the M21, both of which are on Amazon for under $30 and had good reviews here. Again I am grateful for all these reviews and all the other reviews/opinions from others on here. However, I must admit I was a bit overwhelmed with the amount of choices out there.

The CW31 is a good option but I think you can also grab the Brainwavz M1 on amazon for a more refined - albeit slightly less bassy - sound. The Soundmagic E30 and Dunu Trident would round out my recommendations in that price bracket. Trident would be most similar to the PortaPros in balance. The M1 is more midrange-focused while the E30 and CW31 are balanced with slight bass emphasis and a more 'open' feel. I think all should be beginner-friendly in comfort but the CW31 and M1 are easiest to fit.

Reread Kiteki's post, particularly the part about soundstage etc on the HE-500. Would you even bother with a desktop amp if you thought you were getting everything out of your cans straight from your source.

I have absolutely no argument with the 'Clip+ straight into IEMs' argument, but that isnt what we are discussing here. Some headphones, even IEMs, do benefit from additional amplification : whether that benefit justifies the dollars involved is another issue. Dismissing portable amps purely on the basis that most IEMs don't require an amp to sound good is akin to dismissing V8 engines because the Japanese make some very fast and nimble 4-cylinder cars.

X2

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmeat

why would you even need an amp for a iem? i looked the ones iv had were are like 13, 16 29 etc..low ohms.. and alsosuper sensitive

i just bought my first pair of cans an akg240s..not getting them till christmas though. hoping they will sound even better than the ue600..but they are 55ohms and like 91 db sensitive..im worried

btw after having for some time, these ue600 these things sound great! such a big sound from a little speaker and not sloppy at all becuase armature

hoping the akg240s can top that all the ue600 has WITHOUT an amp and only going to be using on portable (notebook)

I was skeptical too until I tried it. A few weeks ago I purchased the Klipsh X10 on sale from Amazon and when I first heard them on my iPod I thought they sounded OK but thought they were lacking in sound for a IEM whose MSRP on some sites is 350 bones and above. The highs were lacking (they sounded dark) and I found the mid range for a lack of a better word rather disjointed. It felt almost like the mids were an after thought when being tuned and just wasn't tying the low and high end together properly. Add to the fact that the sound stage felt small which surprised me because enough people were running around saying the sound stage was only slightly smaller to the TF10 which is known for having a good sized sound stage. The sound felt boxed in and 2D. Anyways last night I was bored and decided for the heck of it to hook up my X10's to Marilyn and see what happened. Usually I use Marilyn for my DT1350's and my Grado SR60's I find she really cleans the general sound signature up nicely and gives some nice added definition here and there. When I started listening to my X10's through Marilyn my jaw just about dropped. The highs were no longer smooth and polite they were now well defined and very much were as prominent as the bass. The next thing i noticed was the mids had smoothed out and was now far more cohesive sounding. The biggest difference though was the sound stage, it was now huge compared to how it was on my iPod and not only that but the feeling was very 3D like. In short it was a completely different IEM.

Feeling rather excited I then mated Marilyn to my Coppers and again I was surprised. The Coppers are little bass cannons and from my iPod the bass can be quite boomy but when amped they now reached down further and the bass now hit hard without leeching into the mids. The detail was also very slightly improved and I found I could pick out instruments better and songs now had an added level of layering. In a nutshell I guess what I'm describing is the Coppers now had more depth. They didn't scale up as much as the X10's but they did scale up. From there I then hooked up my Sony MDR EX600's and then my UE700's. Both the 600 and 700's treble now was more detailed and felt far more airy. This was quite noticeable on the UE700 the 600 although not as much still showed improvement. The sound stage on the 600 also expanded slightly and again being able to pick out instrument positioning became easier plus that layered almost 3D like effect was also improved. The UE 700 the improvement was more in it's treble and I didn't notice any improvement in sound stage although bass may have been slightly deeper. Not to sure though I'll have to give it some more listening time to make up my mind. The last IEM's I tried were my cheapo Klipsh S4's and they were the only ones I could honestly say didn't improve substantially from amping. They sounded pretty much the same on Marilyn as they did on my iPod.

If you doubt me and think I'm crazy and living in my own placebo induced dream land well whether I am or not is easy to prove. Get yourself some of the IEM's I mentioned and a mobile amp of your choice and see for yourself if they scale up or not. Just because some IEM's don't scale up doesn't mean none of them will. Do some experimenting you may all be nicely surprised at the end results.

You want the same high-end as the TF10 with more bass impact and a mid-forward signature.

You can afford three mid-tiers (approx $425?), Lol what am I supposed to say? I think you should reshell your TF10 with Unique Melody with extra drivers (starting at ~$330 - http://www.uniquemelody.com.au/lineup/reshell/), or buy the Thousand Sound TS842.

The reason I say TS842 is because it has the ER-4 driver, which is the only IEM I thought has the same high-end as the TF10 from my brief listening...

As for the "really need an amp" comment, I just linked to a video where a $37 Chinese pos can drive a full-size HP to ear-piercing volumes, the RE262 doesn't need an amp, unless - let me guess - you are using an iPhone!

You want the same high-end as the TF10 with more bass impact and a mid-forward signature.

You can afford three mid-tiers (approx $425?), Lol what am I supposed to say? I think you should reshell your TF10 with Unique Melody with extra drivers (starting at ~$330 - http://www.uniquemelody.com.au/lineup/reshell/), or buy the Thousand Sound TS842.

The reason I say TS842 is because it has the ER-4 driver, which is the only IEM I thought has the same high-end as the TF10 from my brief listening...

As for the "really need an amp" comment, I just linked to a video where a $37 Chinese pos can drive a full-size HP to ear-piercing volumes, the RE262 doesn't need an amp, unless - let me guess - you are using an iPhone!

Garh, I'm extremely frustated with my GR07's right now. "Natural" and "Dynamic" simply don't come to mind when I'm listening to them in any track that has more than one vocal and two backing instruments. I don't know whether it's a fit issue, break-in issue (they have been burning for some 120 hours now), but it sounds awful when playing The Suburbs (the entire frickin album). Sure, I am getting a bit more detail here and there, but it's mostly messy considering how highly these are rated and how much more they cost compared to the ADDIEMs (which actually sounded more DYNAMIC than the GR07 in certain parts of some songs). If this all is just a fit issue I'll have to buy huge tri-flange tips, because the included bi-flanges are the same thing as the big flanges (that is, small).

kiteki has assumed the persona of an Asian female for Head-Fi : I thought it proper to refer to said persona as 'she'. Given that ships don't even have a sex, I don't have a problem conferring personal pronouns on board members of indeterminate sex - I normally opt for 'he' but in this case 'she' seemed more appropriate. Those who have visited Thailand will know that there is a third sex, but I'm not even going to go there. Whatever the specifics of the board member punching the keyboard when 'kiteki' logs in, this is a female character just as it would be in a RPG or any virtual world I can think of.

kiteki has assumed the persona of an Asian female for Head-Fi : I thought it proper to refer to said persona as 'she'. Given that ships don't even have a sex, I don't have a problem conferring personal pronouns on board members of indeterminate sex - I normally opt for 'he' but in this case 'she' seemed more appropriate. Those who have visited Thailand will know that there is a third sex, but I'm not even going to go there. Whatever the specifics of the board member punching the keyboard when 'kiteki' logs in, this is a female character just as it would be in a RPG or any virtual world I can think of.

Garh, I'm extremely frustated with my GR07's right now. "Natural" and "Dynamic" simply don't come to mind when I'm listening to them in any track that has more than one vocal and two backing instruments. I don't know whether it's a fit issue, break-in issue (they have been burning for some 120 hours now), but it sounds awful when playing The Suburbs (the entire frickin album). Sure, I am getting a bit more detail here and there, but it's mostly messy considering how highly these are rated and how much more they cost compared to the ADDIEMs (which actually sounded more DYNAMIC than the GR07 in certain parts of some songs). If this all is just a fit issue I'll have to buy huge tri-flange tips, because the included bi-flanges are the same thing as the big flanges (that is, small).

Can someone please tell me WTH is going on here? I listen everything in 256 kbps AAC in my MBP and nano.

I'm actually really surprised to hear that. The Suburbs is one of my favorite albums as well, and I think it sounds fantastic on my GR07s. Where does it sound messy? One issue could be, as you mentioned the fit. I found that if your fit is too shallow you miss some treble detail, which could make it sound muddy. If your ADDIEMs have a treble boost that might be why it sounds better on those, because The Suburbs is a very warm album on the whole.

Garh, I'm extremely frustated with my GR07's right now. "Natural" and "Dynamic" simply don't come to mind when I'm listening to them in any track that has more than one vocal and two backing instruments. I don't know whether it's a fit issue, break-in issue (they have been burning for some 120 hours now), but it sounds awful when playing The Suburbs (the entire frickin album). Sure, I am getting a bit more detail here and there, but it's mostly messy considering how highly these are rated and how much more they cost compared to the ADDIEMs (which actually sounded more DYNAMIC than the GR07 in certain parts of some songs). If this all is just a fit issue I'll have to buy huge tri-flange tips, because the included bi-flanges are the same thing as the big flanges (that is, small).

I'm actually really surprised to hear that. The Suburbs is one of my favorite albums as well, and I think it sounds fantastic on my GR07s. Where does it sound messy? One issue could be, as you mentioned the fit. I found that if your fit is too shallow you miss some treble detail, which could make it sound muddy. If your ADDIEMs have a treble boost that might be why it sounds better on those, because The Suburbs is a very warm album on the whole.

I find them too messy in two ways. I am analyzing Rococo. It's all fine and dandy during the first 47 seconds. When the "aah aah aaaah"s start the bass-like instrument is a tad lighter in presence than I remember, as if the song was overall thinned, but in a very slight way. Up to 1:45 everything's fine, other than that. As things start to scale up, they also get less intelligible, but not in a musical way: in a radio-like way. I am aware that they purposefully put some guitar noise along the guitar line, but still, the GR07 is supposed have better imaging and soundstage than the ADDIEM, and I haven't noticed that. Overall this part of the song simply lacks the dynamics and instrument separation it should have. Bass has good texture though, but still a tad iffy on quantity. Mids and Highs, when not "messy" during the build-up, sound excellent as well, just as I expected. I get more detail, I get more extension, I just don't get dynamics or imaging. Again, I have 120 hrs on them, and while that's enough for Vsonic, someone has already said that they get better on that area around 170. Still, I am a bit pissed. I am afraid they don't change much more.

Anyway, the bass on these are driving me nuts. Sometimes (by that I mean some songs it's just perfect, and sometimes it is a bit lacking. And the messiness is actually what I'd describe as the driver "making an effort", instead of "being effortless"

EDIT: Scratch what I said about bass-like presence at the beginning. The problem is that it sounds a bit thin and not separate enough from the acoustic rest of the music.